March 29, 1913 
FOREST AND STREAM 
401 
the protection of song and insectivorous birds 
should join in order to give the League the 
power of strength, resulting from a large mem¬ 
bership, throughout the State. 
We know that thousands of our people are 
interested in this great work, but their efforts 
have fallen short of the best attainable results 
through lack of thorough organization and 
through the misdirection of their energies. 
We believe that a Board of Governors 
backed by thousands of members will command 
the respect of legislators, and that instead of 
passing measures of only local importance, 
legislation henceforth will be of a broad-gauged 
character, calculated primarily to increase the 
means of outdoor recreation by increasing the 
fish and game in this commonw’ealth, and as a 
result, making such recreation more attractive. 
We believe in keeping all persons interested in 
this work in touch with what legislation is pro¬ 
posed each year, and we shall endeavor through 
the press and by letter to keep the members 
and public informed as to what is going on at 
the State House, both in the Legislature and 
in the office of the Commissioners of Fisheries 
and Game. 
We shall endeavor to create an influence 
for the propagation of fish and game in all 
sections of the State, and to enthuse all sports¬ 
men to work for one object, namely, more fish 
and more game. 
These officers were then chosen; President, 
Wm. J. H. Nourse, of Worcester; First Vice- 
Presidents—C. A. McLellan, of Brocton; Ed¬ 
ward Clark, of Westfield, and Hon. F. O. 
Hardy, of Fitchburg; Treasurer-Secretary, John 
B. Smith, of Springfield; Legislative Council, 
Williams C. .A.dams, of Boston; Board of Gov¬ 
ernors—Edward E. Strong, of Lee; Charles M. 
Hallett, of Barnstable; Lyman S. Smith, of 
Edgartown, Henry L. Bowles, of Springfield; 
Sidney W. Winslow, Jr., of Beverly; N. J. 
Hardy, of Arlington; Wm. Holland, of Nan¬ 
tucket: Gus. O. Henderson, of Hingham; 
Roderick A. Taber, of Brocton; George B. 
Clark, of Suffolk, and Dr. E. R. Lincoln, of 
I-eominster. 
It was voted to empower the board to fill 
the vacancies in Franklin and Hampshire coun¬ 
ties. 
.4 vote of thanks was given to Salem D. 
Charles and William C. Adams for their work 
before the Legislative Committees on fisheries 
and game, to which both responded fittingly. 
John B. Burnham, of New York, president 
of the American Game Protective and Propaga¬ 
tion Association, spoke earnestly of the recent 
enactment of the McLean-Weeks bill by Con¬ 
gress for the Federal regulation of taking migra¬ 
tory birds. 
The last official act of President Taft, he 
stated, was to- sign this bill. 
After remarks by Dr. Field, Ernest Russell, 
George H. Graham, and John B. Smith, who 
thanked the convention for the honor conferred 
upon him, adjournment was taken. 
The launching of this organization is re¬ 
garded as an important step in the right direc¬ 
tion, and its progress will be watched with in¬ 
terest by all who have the cause at heart 
throughout the State. Much credit for the 
formation and organization of - the League is 
due to the efforts of Geo. H. Graham and Wm. 
C. .A.dams. John B. Smith, Treas.-Sec’y- 
Reindeer in Alaska. 
Washington, D. C., IMarch 8 . —Editor Forest 
and Stream: In order to relieve the conditions 
which existed among the ice-congested regions 
of Alaska, the Bureau of Education determined 
several years ago to solve to some degree the 
question of food supply for the natives. With 
this realization in mind, the Eederal Government 
imported from Siberia a number of the rein¬ 
deer which have proven a veritable boon to the 
Alaskan Indians. To-day the breeding and herd¬ 
ing of the offspring of these imported reindeer 
have become a prominent feature of the indus¬ 
trial education of the Alaskan natives, and the 
principal activity of many of the arctic villages. 
At the last census there were 33,000 reindeer 
in Alaska, and to-day there is not a surplus 
Government reindeer north of the Kuskokwim 
River. Of the total number of reindeer in 
Alaska, 20,000 are owned by the natives. The 
policy of the Government is to turn over to the 
natives the reindeer as soon as they learn to 
herd and breed the animals and become aware 
of their usefulness. Last year, exclusive of the 
values which they received from utilizing the 
reindeer for food and clothing, the natives of 
Alaska derived more than $18,000 as their share 
of the sales of the reindeer products. The 
Alaskan reindeer are distributed among forty- 
six herds divided among twenty-eight stations, 
eighteen of which are owned by the Govern¬ 
ment and ten by church missions. Loans are 
made of a certain number of animals either to 
the missions or experienced herdsmen, allowing 
the individual or concern to whom the loan is 
made to retain the reindeer for five years, at 
the end of which period the original number is 
returned. A herd of reindeer will double itself 
every three years, consequently those to whom 
loans are made are supplied with independent 
herds after returning the original loans to the 
Government. The reindeer not only furnishes 
its owner a means of transportation, but also 
affords food and clothing. 'Fhe meat is easily 
cured, and is nutritious and delectable. The 
skins, from which are made the tight fitting 
trousers and “parka,” protect both from cold 
and moisture. A garment made from one of 
these skins will keep the wearer warm in the 
severest of arctic weather. 
When the reindeer were introduced, herds¬ 
men were brought from Siberia to instruct the 
natives in the care and breeding of the animals. 
Now, however, the Laplanders are the principal 
instructors. The Government does not turn over 
the animals to a native until he has been given 
a thorough course of training in caring for the 
reindeer. After serving an apprenticeship of 
five years, the native then becomes a herder. In 
this course the native is taught to care for, lasso, 
harness and drive the deer, as well as to watch 
and care for the fawns. During this period of 
apprenticeship the student is given each year a 
certain number of deer, and at the expiration 
of his term of apprenticeship, is given a herd 
to keep -for five years, returning at the end of 
that time the original number of deer loaned. 
The herd which he has succeeded in raising for 
himself will furnish him and his family an inde¬ 
pendent livelihood. The native herdsmen, with 
the growth of the mineral industry in Alaska, 
are earning large wages, hauling the products 
of the mines to distant transportation points. 
and in addition supplying reindeer meat to the 
camps at interior points distant from the rail¬ 
way or steamboat lines. 
Trained to the sledge, the reindeer can 
travel from forty to fifty miles in a day, main¬ 
taining a trot throughout the journey. They are 
used to transport the mail from Barrow, the most 
northern point on the American continent, south 
to Kotzebue, a distance of 650 miles. The Alas¬ 
kan reindeer service is under the supervision of 
the U. S. Bureau of Education, and to the wis¬ 
dom and management of this Government Bureau 
is due the development and success of the rein¬ 
deer service. Each Government deer is marked 
with a small aluminum button placed in the ear, 
and all private owners are required to mark 
their animals with a brand, which is registered 
both with the local superintendent of the rein¬ 
deer service and in the Bureau of Education. 
In order to show the increase in the rein¬ 
deer herds, the Governor of Alaska states that 
on June 30. 1911, there were a total of 33,629 
reindeer, distributed among forty-six stations. 
Of the whole number, 20,071, or 60 per cent., are 
owned by 460 natives, 3,951 owned by the United 
States, 4,663 owned by missions and 4,491 owned 
by Laplanders. The income of the natives from 
the reindeer industry during the same year, in¬ 
cluding wages as herdsmen, proceeds from the 
sale of meat and skins, and trapping in con¬ 
nection with their duties with the deer 
herds was $42,216.10 In October, 1911, the 
first shipment of reindeer meat left Nome for 
Seattle and consisted of 125 carcasses or “meats” 
as the natives termed it. The shipment was 
made by a cold storage company and the ship¬ 
ment, consisting of approximately 18,000 pounds, 
found a ready sale in Seattle at prices ranging 
from twenty-five to seventy-five cents per pound, 
according to the cut. The Governor of Alaska 
estimates that there are in Northern and Western 
Alaska approximately 400,000 square miles of 
treeless regions, which are worthless for agricul¬ 
tural purposes, but which could furnish pastur¬ 
age for 10,000,000 reindeer. He estimates that 
it is possible that with the present rate of in¬ 
crease there may be in Alaska in less than 
twenty-five years some 2,000,000 reindeer, and that 
the United States may draw some part of its meat 
supply from that source. Raleigh Raines. 
Deer in California Doomed Unless Killing 
Further Restricted. 
The following is an extract from a letter 
to J. S. Flunter, Assistant in Charge Game 
Conservation, Fish and Game Commission, 
written by Dr. T. S. Palmer, Assistant Chief, 
Bureau Biological Survey, U. S. Department 
of Agriculture: 
“I note that your records show 6,847 deer 
killed in the State with several counties yet to 
be heard from. This seems a surprisingly large 
number and I hope soon to receive your de¬ 
tailed statement by counties. If such a record 
as this is kept for a few years the deer will 
be practically exterminated in some parts of 
the State.” 
Additional records, since received from ad¬ 
ditional counties, bring up the actual records of 
the total of deer killed in the State to nearly 
7.500. Probably many deer killed were not re¬ 
corded, so that a conservative estimate places 
the deer killed during last season in California 
at 10,000. 
It would seem that the restriction of each 
hunter to one deer a season is an urgent neces¬ 
sity in California at this time.—Western Wild 
Life Call. 
